线下受害者到线上欺负者的转化:道德推脱的中介作用及高自尊对此效应的加强

随着网络使用的普及,网络欺负日益成为普遍的社会公共问题,尤其在青少年群体中易引发广泛的危害。研究聚焦于被欺负者和欺负者潜在转换的视角,考察有过线下被欺负经历的个体是否实施网络欺负的可能性更高,且是否是道德推脱在其中起中介作用,而此作用还会受到高自尊的增强。以中学生为对象,间隔六个月时间,在时间1测量了线下受欺负情况、道德推脱和自尊,在时间2测量了在网络上欺负他人的情况。结果发现,在控制了性别、年级、社会赞许性之后,线下受欺负程度可以显著正向预测网络欺负的程度,且道德推脱在其中起到正向的中介作用。此外,这一中介作用还受到自尊的调节,随着自尊的增强,在线下越受欺负的青少年就越会通过道德推脱合理化其攻击行为,从而在网上做出更多对于他人的欺负行为。     

Morally disengaged and unempathic: do cyberbullies fit these definitions? An exploratory study

In recent years, the phenomenon of cyberbullying has been gaining scholars' growing interest under various aspects, including its overlap with face-to-face bullying. Nevertheless, its relationships with cognitive and affective empathy, proactive and reactive aggression, and moral disengagement, constructs that proved to be crucial in distinguishing aggressive subjects from their targets and nonaggressive peers in traditional bullying, still represent, to some extent, an unexplored domain. The main purpose of the present exploratory study was to investigate the associations between cyberbullying and the mentioned constructs among Italian adolescents. 819 high-school students (mean age 16.08) were administered a battery of standardized tools, along with Cyberties, a new instrument created to assess the prevalence of (and the type of involvement in) different forms of electronic assaults. Analyses of variance were conducted to compare four roles ("pure" bullies, "pure" victims, bully victims, and noninvolved subjects). Participants who identified themselves as cyberbullies or cyberbully victims showed significantly higher levels of overall moral disengagement and of both types of aggression. Cyberbullies also displayed a lack of affective empathy. Our findings are in line with the ones in extant literature about correlates of traditional and electronic forms of bullying. Implications for prevention strategies are discussed.     

Teacher,parent and student perceptions of the motives of cyberbullies

Understanding the motivation of students who cyberbully is important for both prevention and intervention efforts for this insidious form of bullying. This qualitative exploratory study used focus groups to examine the views of teachers, parents and students as to the motivation of students who cyberbully and who bully in other traditional forms. In addition, these groups were asked to explain their understanding of what defines bullying and cyberbullying. The results suggested that not only were there differences in definitions of cyberbullying and bullying between the three groups, but also that there were differences in perceptions of what motivates some youth to cyberbully. The implications of these results are discussed for both prevention and intervention strategies.     

High school students’ suggestions for supporting younger pupils counteract cyberbullying

This study's aim was to explore high school students’ suggestions for supporting younger pupils prevent and deal with cyberbullying. Seventy-eight high school students participated in 11 focus groups, and had many concrete suggestions for ways they could support younger pupils against cyberbullying. The suggestions covered a range of activities, for instance advising younger pupils on how to avoid becoming victims of cyberbullying by teaching them netiquette. Furthermore, the students were positive toward involving adults in counteracting cyberbullying among younger pupils, for example educating younger pupils’ parents about cyberbullying. Moreover, the students suggested that they could show support for victims of cyberbullying by taking on the role of a friend when a younger pupil is cyberbullied and spend time with her/him during breaks. They also had ideas about supporting younger pupils in getting cyberbullies to stop, for instance by teaching the younger pupils technical skills for dealing with the cyberbullying on the Internet. To conclude, the findings in this study indicate that high school students want to be involved in supporting younger pupils against cyberbullying, and have many concrete suggestions for how this can be done. These findings have implications for counteracting cyberbullying in schools.     

Are cyberbullies less empathic? Adolescents' cyberbullying behavior and empathic responsiveness

Meta-analyses confirm a negative relationship between aggressive behavior and empathy, that is, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Based on theoretical considerations, it was, therefore, hypothesized that a lack of empathic responsiveness may be characteristic for cyberbullies in particular. In the present study, 2.070 students of Luxembourg secondary schools completed an online survey that included a cyberbullying questionnaire(4) and a novel empathy short scale. According to the main hypothesis, analyses of variances indicated that cyberbullies demonstrated less empathic responsiveness than non-cyberbullies. In addition, cyberbullies were also more afraid of becoming victims of cyberbullying. The findings confirm and substantially extend the research on the relationship between empathy and aggressive behavior. From an educational point of view, the present findings suggest that training of empathy skills might be an important tool to decrease cyberbullying.     

儿童期虐待与青少年网络欺负行为的关系：自尊的中介作用和友谊质量的调节作用

本研究采用问卷法对2407名青少年进行调查,探究儿童期虐待对青少年网络欺负行为的影响,以及自尊的中介作用和友谊质量的调节作用。结果表明：（1）儿童期虐待显著正向预测青少年网络欺负行为。（2）自尊在儿童期虐待与青少年网络欺负行为之间起部分中介作用。（3）儿童期虐待对青少年网络欺负行为的间接效应的前半段路径受到友谊质量的调节。友谊质量高、低水平下儿童期虐待对自尊的预测作用均显著,但友谊质量较高的青少年群体中儿童期虐待对自尊的预测作用更强。     

Parental involvement and mental health among school-going adolescents in five Caribbean countries

The aim of this study was to assess the association between parental involvement and mental health among adolescents in five Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica and Trinidad, and Tobago. Data were from the cross-sectional Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) which sampled 10 063 adolescents (mean age 14.3 years, SD = 1.3) from 2009 to 2013. In multivariable logistic regression analyses (adjusted for age, sex, and socioeconomic status), bullied, having close friends and peer support, and higher levels of parental involvement were negatively associated with loneliness, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in all five countries. In Jamaica, parental involvement was not associated with suicide attempt. Parental involvement interventions for improving mental health among the Caribbean adolescents should consider peer influences.     

Relevant dimensions of cyberbullying — Results from two experimental studies

Cyberbullying is a prevalent problem of adolescents. However, several conceptual and measurement questions, regarding its defining characteristics and relevant dimensions in comparison to conventional bullying, remain unanswered. To this end we conducted two studies with experimental methods. Study I shows that power imbalance in terms of perceived popularity is relevant for the affective, cognitive, and behavioral experience of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying by a popular bully is more distressing than cyberbullying by an unpopular bully. Study II shows that factors unique to cyberbullying are also relevant for the experience of cyberbullying, namely the media and the type of cyberbullying. For example, different types of cyberbullying are related to different patterns of relevant coping strategies. Therefore, cyberbullying seems both a unique phenomenon and closely related to conventional bullying.     

The measurement of cyberbullying: dimensional structure and relative item severity and discrimination

In relation to a sample of 1,092 Italian adolescents (50.9% females), the present study aims to: (a) analyze the most parsimonious structure of the cyberbullying and cybervictimization construct in male and female Italian adolescents through confirmatory factor analysis; and (b) analyze the severity and the discrimination parameters of each act using the item response theory. Results showed that the structure of the cyberbullying scale for perpetrated and received behaviors in both genders could best be represented by a monodimensional model where each item lies on a continuum of severity of aggressive acts. For both genders, the less severe acts are silent/prank calls and insults on instant messaging, and the most severe acts are unpleasant pictures/photos on Web sites, phone pictures/photos/videos of intimate scenes, and phone pictures/photos/videos of violent scenes. The items nasty text messages, nasty or rude e-mails, insults on Web sites, insults in chatrooms, and insults on blogs range from moderate to high levels of severity. Regarding the discrimination level of the acts, several items emerged as good indicators at various levels of cyberbullying and cybervictimization severity, with the exception of silent/prank calls. Furthermore, gender specificities underlined that the visual items can be considered good indicators of severe cyberbullies and cybervictims only in males. This information can help in understanding better the nature of the phenomenon, its severity in a given population, and to plan more specific prevention and intervention strategies.     

Appearance-related cyberbullying: A qualitative investigation of characteristics,content, reasons,and effects

The aim of this study was to explore 15-year-old adolescents’ experiences of appearance-related cyberbullying. Twenty-seven adolescents participated in four focus groups. The adolescents in this study perceived that it is common to be targeted in appearance-related cyberbullying, especially for girls, and that appearance-related cyberbullying is considered to be a potent strategy when attempting to hurt girls. Girls often received comments about being fat, while among boys, it was common to receive comments about looking or seeming “gay.” According to the adolescents, an important reason for engaging in appearance-related cyberbullying was to attain higher social status in the peer group. The girls and boys reacted differently to appearance-related cyberbullying. Boys tended to act out or take no offence, while girls experienced lower self-esteem and feelings of depression. Findings in this study contribute to research on cyberbullying as well as to research on girls’ body esteem development.     

儿童期心理虐待对青少年网络欺负的影响:领悟社会支持及性别的调节作用

近年来,网络欺负现象逐渐成为网络心理学研究的热点问题。青少年网络欺负的发生率约为60.8%,且每年都在呈增长的趋势,这对青少年正常的学习生活造成了严重的影响。故本研究主要探讨儿童期心理虐待对青少年网络欺负的影响,以及领悟社会支持和性别起到的调节作用。本研究以447名青少年作为被试(男生205人,女生242人,被试年龄范围为11~17岁,平均年龄为14.17±1.35岁),采用儿童期心理虐待量表、网络欺负问卷及领悟社会支持量表进行调查。运用SPSS 22.0及AMOS 21.0统计软件进行数据处理,Harman单因素法表明,本研究不存在严重的共同方法偏差问题。研究结果表明:(1)儿童期心理虐待与领悟社会支持呈显著负相关(r=-.14,p<.01),儿童期心理虐待与青少年网络欺负呈显著正相关(r=.44,p<.01),领悟社会支持与青少年网络欺负呈显著负相关(r=-.15,p<.01);(2)结构方程模型显示,模型各指标均达到了临界值(χ^2/df=2.67,GFI=.90,TLI=.91,CFI=.92,RMSEA=.07);(3)儿童期心理虐待对青少年网络欺负具有显著的正向预测作用(β=.21,p<.01),领悟社会支持对青少年网络欺负具有显著的负向预测作用(β=-.11,p<.05),同时,儿童期心理虐待与领悟社会支持的交互项对青少年网络欺负具有显著的负向预测作用显著(β=-.19,p<.01),简单斜率检验表明,对于低领悟社会支持水平的青少年,儿童期心理虐待对网络欺负有显著的正向预测作用(β=.54,p<.001);对于高低领悟社会支持水平的青少年,儿童期心理虐待对网络欺负的预测作用不显著(β=-.17,p>.05);(4)儿童期心理虐待与性别的交互项对青少年网络欺负具有显著的正向预测作用(β=.28,p<.001),简单斜率检验表明,对于男青少年,儿童期心理虐待对网络欺负有显著的正向预测作用(β=.54,p<.001);对于女青少年,儿童期心理虐待对网络欺负的预测作用不显著(β=.13,p>.05);由此可说明,儿童期心理虐待是青少年网络欺负出现的助推机制,而领悟社会支持和性别是青少年网络欺负出现的抑制机制,它可以弱化儿童期心理虐待对青少年网络欺负造成的创伤。     

Stability of Early Identified Aggressive Victim Status in Elementary School and Associations with Later Mental Health Problems and Functional Impairments

Aggressive victims—children who are both perpetrators and victims of peer aggression—experience greater concurrent mental health problems and impairments than children who are only aggressive or only victimized. The stability of early identified aggressive victim status has not been evaluated due to the fact that most studies of aggressor/victim subgroups have focused on preadolescents and/or adolescents. Further, whether children who exhibit early and persistent patterns of aggression and victimization continue to experience greater mental health problems and functional impairments through the transition to adolescence is not known. This study followed 344 children (180 girls) previously identified as socially adjusted, victims, aggressors, or aggressive victims at Grade 1 (Burk et al. 2008) to investigate their involvement in peer bullying through Grade 5. The children, their mothers, and teachers reported on children’s involvement in peer aggression and victimization at Grades 1, 3, and 5; and reported on internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, inattention and impulsivity, as well as academic functioning, physical health, and service use at Grades 5, 7, and 9. Most children categorized as aggressive victims in Grade 1 continued to be significantly involved in peer bullying across elementary school. Children with recurrent aggressive victim status exhibited higher levels of some mental health problems and greater school impairments across the adolescent transition when compared to other longitudinal peer status groups. This study suggests screening for aggressive victim status at Grade 1 is potentially beneficial. Further early interventions may need to be carefully tailored to prevent and/or attenuate later psychological, academic, and physical health problems.     

A Cyberbullying Intervention for Hong Kong Chinese College Students

A cyberbullying intervention was developed and empirically tested with 137 Hong Kong Chinese College students. The intervention was designed to change students’ attitudes about cyberbullying behavior and increase their awareness of cyberbullying. Participants were assigned to an experimental or control group. They completed questionnaires before the intervention (Time 1; T1), immediately after the intervention (Time 2; T2), and again eight weeks later (Time 3; T3). The experimental group participated in a 1-h intervention where they were presented with a simulated Facebook page showing the helpless feelings of cyber-victims, watched video clips of the consequences of cyberbullying, and engaged in small group discussions and a self-reflection writing task. Results showed that participants who received the intervention experienced an increase in their awareness and had more negative attitudes toward cyberbullying (i.e., the perception that cyberbullying is unacceptable behavior) than did the control group. In addition, those who reported being highly engaged in the intervention maintained the positive effects at the 8-week follow-up. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of a short-term cyberbullying intervention for college students and that level of participant engagement contributes to its effectiveness.     

Zur Häufigkeit der Schuldfähigkeitsbegutachtung von Sexualstraftätern im Erkenntnisverfahren

This study investigated how often and depending on which factors sexual offenders are examined by mental health experts regarding their criminal responsibility. Out of a total of 306 legal charges against sex offenders accused of child sexual abuse (CSA: n?=?145), rape or sexual assault (n?=?89), exhibitionism (n?=?39), sexual abuse of adolescents, mentally defective, physically helpless or warded persons (n?=?18) that were admitted by a criminal court in 2001 in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, 209 (95.6 %) were analyzed regarding the following questions: how often was the accused examined by a mental health professional regarding mental responsibility? Was the chance of being examined systematically related to certain factors (e.g., personality of the accused)? Expert advice regarding the mental responsibility of the accused was obtained by the court in only 34 cases (11.7 %). No systematic relationships of personal variables as well as the modus operandi and the chance of commissioning a mental health expert were found. The main reason for assigning a forensic expert opinion was the vague impression of a psychic disorder. Re-offending increased the rate of a mental health examination only in CSA (34.6 % of re-offenders were examined compared to 9.2 % of first-time offenders), but not in rape or sexual assault. Also age does not predict the commissioning of an expert opinion. Only one fifth of all accused below the age of 21 were investigated by a mental health professional. Results are discussed in terms of legal background, consequences for risk assessment and relapse prevention.     

Cyberbullying in High Schools: A Study of Students' Behaviors and Beliefs about This New Phenomenon

This study explores high school students' beliefs and behaviors associated with cyberbullying. Specifically, it examines this new phenomenon from the following four perspectives: (a) What happens after students are cyberbullied? (b) What do students do when witnessing cyberbullying? (c) Why do victims not report the incidents? and (d) What are students' opinions about cyberbullying? Data were collected from 269 Grade 7 through 12 students in 5 Canadian schools. Several themes have emerged from the analysis, which uncovers some important patterns. One finding is that over 40% would do nothing if they were cyberbullied, and only about 1 in 10 would inform adults. Students feel reluctant to report cyberbullying incidents to adults in schools for various reasons, which are discussed in depth.     

Perceptions of the Limitations of Confidentiality Among Chinese Mental Health Practitioners,Adolescents and Their Parents

The present study aims to (a) survey Chinese mental health professionals’ attitudes toward therapeutic confidentiality with adolescent patients in specific clinical situations, and (b) compare Chinese adolescents’ and parents’ beliefs about when most mental health professionals would breach confidentiality. A sample of 36 mental health practitioners, 152 parents, and 164 adolescents completed a survey to assess their opinions about when confidentiality should be breached in 18 specific clinical situations (e.g., an adolescent tells his or her therapist that he or she smoked a cigarette, had unprotected sex, or attempted suicide). Nearly half of the parents (46%) and adolescents (41%) and 78% of the therapists in our sample selected “yes” in response to the question of whether the principle of confidentiality applies to adolescents. However, 49% of parents indicated “no,” and 53% of adolescents indicated “not sure.” Compared to adolescents, parents were significantly more likely to believe that therapists would breach confidentiality for the high-breach-likelihood items. For the low-breach-likelihood items, adolescents and parents were significantly more likely than therapists to believe confidentiality should be breached. Results from this study provide data to inform the development, refinement, practical implementation, and communication of guidelines and recommendations specific to adolescents receiving psychotherapy in China.     

青少年家庭功能、人际适应和网络欺凌的关系:一个有调节的中介作用

为探讨青少年家庭功能、人际适应和网络欺凌的关系以及性别在其中的调节作用,采用问卷法对北京和昆明共计1921名中学生进行研究。结果表明：（1）青少年群体中,男生的网络欺凌得分显著高于女生;（2）整体上,人际适应在家庭功能和网络欺凌关系间起完全中介作用;（3）性别在人际适应对青少年网络欺凌的影响中起显著调节作用,具体表现为：与男生相比,人际适应良好的女生实施网络欺凌的可能性更小。结果提示,良好的家庭功能可以通过影响人际适应进而影响青少年网络欺凌的实施,且在此过程中存在性别差异,对女生而言,着力提高社会人际适应能力更具针对性。     

Sex Differences in the Psychological Well-Being of Chinese Adolescents

This study assessed sex differences affecting the psychological wellbeing of Chinese adolescents. Various instruments were used to measure psychiatric symptoms and positive mental health. The results showed that female adolescents displayed significantly more psychiatric as well as somatic symptoms and scored lower on scales reflecting positive mental health. The findings are generally consistent with those found in the Western literature, but suggest that, in the Chinese culture, sex differences in mental health begin to appear in adolescents.     

Sex differences in the psychological well-being of Chinese adolescents

This study assessed sex differences affecting the psychological well-being of Chinese adolescents. Various instruments were used to measure psychiatric symptoms and positive mental health. The results showed that female adolescents displayed significantly more psychiatric as well as somatic symptoms and scored lower on scales reflecting positive mental health. The findings are generally consistent with those found in the Western literature, but suggest that, in the Chinese culture, sex differences in mental health begin to appear in adolescents.